**** Dad and I crossed the road and went back to our vehicle. As I was crossing the road, I saw a green colored Gipsy parked by the side of the road at a distance from where our car was parked. I guess it was Sagar sir who promised that he will be keeping a watch over us. The journey started again. I kept thinking about what Jessica Didi told me. I wonder how much Abhinu is suffering and how is he feeling when he learns that he cannot recall most of the things from his past and all this is because of the family of the girl sitting next to me. God I really hate her now. But I promised them I wouldn't react and I need to stay that way. ****
Aamaya di suddenly asked me "Whom did you meet Monika...?"
"Aaa… its no one... it was Koushik dada... he wanted to meet me once before we leave from Purulia"
"I hope you remember Koushik dada..." I asked.
Looking at Aamaya di's confused face I could understand she doesn't remember who Koushik dada is.
"Remember the basketball match you played with my brother..."
"Yes..."
"There was a guy who wanted to video shoot the match..."
"Yes... was that Koushik..." she asked excitedly.
"yes... didi that was kousik dada. He wanted to see me because he has not seen me since the kidnapping..."
The mere mention of the work kidnapping made Aamaya di looked tensed and shocked. She softly touched my right arm. "What... How did it happen?"
**** I began to narrate the sequence of events that took place in the house and how they rescued me, how they tied me up to a peg with a chain, how I hurt in my leg, and the daring entry of my dad in the process and finally how Rahat was handed over to Shabnam Masi.
The very mention of the word Rahat made me feel that Aamaya di was probably scared of him. ****
She looked at dad and replied, "Uncle you should have killed Rahat when you had the chance... he is a Predatory paedophile... he likes to take advantage of younger boys..."
dad replied in a shocked tone, "What do you mean dear...?" I was unable to see his face as he was on the driving seat looking at the road.
"He is one of the few men responsible for my Allen's death. He has taken advantage of Allen and Abhinu in-numerable times." and Aamaya di started to cry again.
**** I knew dad wanted to pacify Aamaya di but it was not possible for him to do it so I hugged her instead. She hugged me in return and laid her head on my soldier. ****
Dad replied back… "Don't cry dear... he is with some very dangerous people... they will not kill him, but he will definitely wish that death would be a better..."
"I don't understand..."
"We had handed him over to Shabnam Masi. Unfortunately we came to know from one of Abhinu's journal that he was manhandled by Rahat a lot many times and Shabnam masi owns Abhinu a big favour."
The very mention of Abhinu's journal made Aamaya di lift her head off my soldier and replied "Journal… What journaI are you talking about…"
"Well Abhinu maintained a journal where he wrote everything that happened to him on a daily basis."
"Oh my god… that means…"
"Of course di… everyone starting from my mom to Capt. Sagar, Nishi sir, Shahi sir we all know everything about Abhinu's life" I replied
**** Aamaya di covered her face with her hands as if ashamed of herself or probably the fear of knowing that everyone who wants to protect Abhinu now knows about what she did to him over the years. ****
I continued "you know di… when I used to see that Abhinu was learning about stitching and tailoring, I took in on me to keep forcing him to write the journal everyday so that he doesn't forget how to read and write…"
"I know you hated him so much that you never allowed him to touch a notebook… you have betrayed his trust in-numerable times… but as her true friend I couldn't…"
Suddenly mom shouted at me from the front seat "MONIKA STOP IT… ITS ENOUGH…"
"Sorry Maa…" I replied…
"Not to me… you should say sorry to Aamaya… have we raised you this way that you will be disrespectful to your elders… say sorry to her…"
"I am sorry Di… I didn't mean to hurt your feelings…"
Aamaya di touched me by the shoulder and replied "Don't worry sweety… I don't keep any grudge… I knew this would have happened sooner…"
"Forget about that dear… you mentioned about Shabnam Masi… who is she…"
"Shabnam Masi… well Abhinu had saved her life once… She had been taking care of him for the past 6 years whenever you and your family has been going to Kolkata and is left all alone locked in the house."
"Wow… I never knew someone could have such a great heart… No matter how much we tried to break his soul he never takes a step back when it comes to helping anyone…" Aamaya di took a deep breath and continued "You know his mom was also like that too… there were lots of people whom his mom had helps against her better judgement…"
"You wont believe… the day she was laid to rest… more than half of Purulia came to offer their condolences" replied Aamaya di…
"Abhinu is truly a great soul."
Suddenly Dad interrupted our discussion… "Aamaya… sorry to interrupt your discussion but there is something I was thinking of telling you since morning…"
"What do you want to say Uncle…??" asked Aamaya di.
"Remember in the camp you mentioned about a Mr. Jairus Christopher…" dad asked…
I saw Aamaya di's face twinkle at the sheer mention of the word Jairus Christopher… "Do you know him uncle… If I could meet him once… I will personally request him to help Abhinu and take him as far away from my dad as possible. I will never reveal to my dad where Abhinu is even if he had to kill me for it…"
"Wow… you have so much faith in this Jairus Christopher fellow? Do you really think he can protect your sister…" dad asked.
"Abhinu is not my sister… he is my own brother… even though my family have wronged him, he is and will still remain my brother…"
I guess dad did that on purpose, referring to Abhinu as her sister. I couldn't help but laugh at dad for trying to make fun of Aamaya however I controlled my laughter by keeping a serious face.
"What if I tell you… that I am the Jairus Christopher abhinu keeps talking about…"
"Come on Uncle… stop joking… I know you are making fun of me I hope you know I can still understand jokes…"
**** I knew this was bound to happen. Suddenly I saw dad taking something out from his left shirt pocket and handed it over to Aamaya. It was a small rectangular plastic card that looked like the credit cards dad normally use, and had a seal of the Ashoka Stambha on top of it. ****
"Jairus Christopher, Indian Navy… Rank : Commander, I don't believe it… you have been our neighbour for so long…" she suddenly touched her forehead with her right hand and continued "How can I so stupid…" she suddenly looked at me and said "I am so sorry to be a inconsiderate self-absorbed girl. I was so preoccupied with my focus on hurting Abhinu that I never bothered to know about the people, who cared about him…" it felt like she was trying to say what to say next and continued "I hope you forgive me Monika."
We kept talking and didn't realize how quickly the time passed… we have been on the road for nearly 6 hours now. Suddenly dad took a detour and that's when I realised it was time for us to take a short break. I stood on the seat to look back and check if I can see Capt. Sagar's gipsy but it was nowhere to be seen.
Dad suddenly commented "We will be meeting Master and Tribeni Mazumdar here. There is something we have to discuss with him and then we will be back on the road again."
It was a very bad patch of road. There were dense trees everywhere and by the looks of it, it felt like we have entered a jungle. We drove in the bad patch of road for about 20 minutes before finally coming to a halt. As we got down from the vehicles we found Sengupta maam, Tribehi Dadu and Master Kaku was present there.
"We will be stopping here for about an hour… in case any of you want to get freshened up feel free to do it…" Dad replied.
Aamaya di went with mom inside a bamboo hut which was located in one corner. There is a Black colored Van which was parked next to the hut. There was a couple of jeep that were present there too.
I had nothing to do so I was just standing next to our car and began listening to their conversation.
"Tribeni babu, Miss Sengupta, I believe you have something for me."
"Yes Mr. Christopher…" Tribeni Dada looked at Master Kaku and replied "Master… Please give the file to him… He need to see this…"
Dad takes the file from Master kaku and starts flipping through the pages. It was evident from dad's face that whatever he was reading was clearly making him angry. Tribeni Dadu continued…
"This file contains the names of the 5 men who was given the contract to kill your friend Lt. Col. Banerjee. Do you know why Lt. Col. Banerjee was killed?" asked Master Kaku.
"Why master?"
"Can you open the first page of that file?"
As I was deeply engrossed in their conversation, I didn't realise the people standing behind me. Someone touched my arm from the back. I stuttered and turned back. It was Mom who was standing behind me. Aamaya di was also standing next to her. A couple of men whom we didn't knew was also standing next to Mom.
Dad flipped to the first page of the file "DR. SANDEEP MENON."
Master kaku continued "Yes Dr. Sandeep Menon that bastard has been performing Sex Reassignment Surgery on underage boys. His only dream is to perform Sex Reassignment Surgery on a child who has not attained puberty and create the perfect cross-gender. Sex Reassignment Surgery can change the appearance of a human externally but the internal organs remain the same, he has been performing surgeries to try to change the internal organs too which would create his perfect masterpiece. Do you know he tried his experimenting on a total of 63 children."
I was shocked, I couldn't believe what I just heard. 63 children… That's an insane number. People like him don't deserve to live.
Kaku continued "As he was already performing his tests on Aarohi, he stumbled upon Abhinu. He saw him playing a basketball matches and understood that he was physically strong enough to endure the challenges of transformation and thought him to be the perfect specimen."
"He approached Mr. Banerjee since he was already his client, it was not difficult to ask him for Abhinu. However he came to know that Abhinu is the son of a high ranking Army officer and if he even tries to touch him, there is a possibility that the Military Police would intervene and things might get insane."
"However, Mr. Banerjee proposed to him that if for some reason, something happens to the Lt. Colonel, he would willingly let Dr. Menon experiment on Abhinu. Dr. Menon got in touch with some Mercenaries and a conspiracy was hatched to murder Lt. Col. Banerjee so that he could lay his hands on Abhinu."
"Do you mean to say whatever happened to the 3 children was for experiment purpose only…" Dad asked.
"Not really… for Dr. Menon it was obviously for experiment purpose… but for Mr. Banerjee it's something else…"
"What was his agenda then…" Asked dad
"Well… that I we are not sure yet… Dr. Menon says that generally he doesn't force his client to let him experiment on more than one child, however in the case of Mr. Banerjee he agreed to let him experiment on 3 children with the condition that no two trans-child would be raised together. The doctor asked him the reason, but Mr. Banerjee wouldn't say. An Occultist by the name of Baba Young knows the reason… But we are unable to trace his whereabouts."
"Now going back to Dr. Menon… there is something else you need to know about him and I would request you to stay strong as this is going to be disgusting…"
"Go ahead master… let's hear it out…" said dad
"I don't know how to tell you this but you know what, just to check how strong Abhinu is mentally, he would asked the gardener and a couple of his men to…" he paused and it felt like he was trying to figure out the right word to use and continued "how do I say this…" he took a deep breath and said "Molest him… to check how mentally strong he is…"
If a man like master kaku was getting difficulty in explaining this, I can understand how Abhinu must have felt.
"Molest him… I beg your pardon…"
"WOULD IT MAKE MORE SENSE IF I USE THE TERM CHILD RAPE…" Master kaku replied in an angry tone.
Everyone present there was looking very angry. I saw tears in my Mom's and Aamaya di's eyes when he used the that disgusting word.
I wish I can get my hands on this doctor… I would snap his neck into two…" as he started to gesture with his hands how is he going to do.
**** Tribeni Dadu and Master Kaku started discussing something when I saw Dadu looking towards one of his men who was also carrying a Machine Gun in his hand and signalled him something through his eyes.
2 of the men went towards the black coloured vehicle and opened the boot. I suddenly saw dad's right hand move towards his back and hold the butt of the pistol, and with his thump pull the safety pin out of the gun that he had safely tucked it behind his back and started to look at what the men were doing. I guess it was just his years of training instinct kicking in. ****
"Mr. Christopher… you can let go off the gun… you have nothing to fear… they are just taking someone out from the boot." It was Tribeni dadu who said that.
Dad took out his gun from the back and placed it on the bonnet of the MD5.
I saw the 2 men dragging someone from the van towards us. He was wearing a white shirt which was soaked in blood and below his waist, he was only wearing his inners. His face was badly bruised. It looked like that man was beaten up badly.
"Mr. Christopher, this man is the reason we called" As master kaku caught hold of the man by the collar "This is the psychotic nutjob, Dr. Sandeep Menon. He is quite a fox. We got to know from one of our sources that he is hiding in a hotel in Purulia. As we caught up with him we found him in this condition with both of his hands amputated." and then he gave him a powerful kick on his private parts which made him swing on the air for a split second and fell right next to where Tribeni Dadu was standing.
I saw Dad and Mom looking at one another in disbelief as they heard the name Dr. Sandeep Menon.
As he cried in pain and struggled to get up Dad asked "Why didn't you get him treated in a hospital first. He seems to be in a pretty bad shape…"
"Don't worry Mr. Christopher. He will not die. We wanted him to feel the pains he inflicted on those 63 children when he decided to perform those surgery on them."
My mom wanted to cover my eyes with her hand but I caught hold of her and moved it away. I guess she didn't want me to see the bloodied face of that doctor but looking at my behaviour she didn't struggle much.
I heard Master kaku saying " Do you know currently he has convinced 7 more families to let him perform his sadistic experiment on them…"
"They are being rescued by Miss Sengupta's team as we speak" He paused a little and then continued "You know Alena…the child Brigadier Shahi mentioned about earlier who committed suicide, he tried to replace his male genital organs with ovaries. He was nearly successful but before he could tell the whole world about him, Alena committed suicide."
"So you mean to say this thing with the 3 adopted kids of Mr. Banerjee was all about creating a perfect girl from a boy… are you sure about it…" asked dad.
Before Dad could say the next sentence something unfortunate happened. Aamaya di picked up dad's gun which he had kept in on the bonnet of the MD5, and before anyone could react she pointed the gun towards the man and pulled the trigger.
She kept pulling the trigger till all the 9 bullets were drained out of the magazine. I could still hear the trigger clicking of the empty pistol after all the magazines were drained out.
Suddenly Mom hugged Aamaya di from the back and softly tried to release the pistol off her hand. As the gun fell off her hands and dropped to the ground, she suddenly started crying loudly as she dropped on the ground in front of the slain body of the doctor. "HE IS THE REASON BEHIND THE DEATH OF MY ALLEN…"
Mom and I too stepped up and hugged her and tried to calm her down. Her grief came crashing down in waves of unhindered cries of agony. I have never seen her so broken and torn down.
As I tried to wipe off the tears from her eyes, she hugged me tight and with her weeping voice pleaded, "Please forgive me for treating your Abhinu bad… I hope you will forgive me for it… I AM NOT A BAD GIRL MONIKA."
At that, all the hatred I had felt for her over her mistreatment of Abhinu wafted away and I could not help but feel only sympathy and forgiveness for the tattered soul in front of me. But there was a feeling of pure peace and calm emanating from her which led me to believe she has somehow got her closure after killing the man responsible for the death of the only person she ever loved. The walls she had built around her heart after Allen's death had imploded and she has finally found a semblance of retribution she sought for her dearest. I was both moved and astonished by this humane version of Amaya.
Suddenly Mom shouted at Dad "JAIRUS… are you crazy… why did you have to keep a loaded gun in the bonnet and that too without the safety on…"
Dad couldn't say a word after what just happened. It felt like everyone's mouth was frozen, after what Aamaya di just did. Suddenly Tribeni dadu broke the silence "Mr. Christopher… don't be worried… think of it as god's will…"
I saw dad pick up the gun, put the safety lock on and tucked it back into the back. "You know what… I am worried about Mr. N.N. he is not going to take it lightly. We promised him that that we will not hurt this man" pointing his fingers towards the slain body of the doctor and continued "and now this man is dead… what am I going to tell him…"
Miss. Sengupta, Tribeni dadu, Master kaku, Mom and Dad looked at one another trying to think deeply what to tell Nishi Jethu. Aamaya di was still in shock, looking at the body of the doctor and crying. As they were wondering what to do, someone spoke up "Dada… if you don't mind can I say something…"
It was one of the men who dragged the doctor from the van. They all turned to look at them and master daa said "Yes… Bonik babu… tell me…"
The man said "Remember the file you showed me… and the conspiracy behind the murder of that Army officer… what if the same thing happens to this man too…"
"What are you implying Bonik babu…" Asked master daa.
"If you are worried what to say to IG sahib, than I have an plan… Christopher Babu… you call IG Sahib and tell him that we are transferring this man into his custody. On the way, the jeep will be attacked by Somjit Banerjee's men and he will be killed. Tribeni babu, once you are with the IG Sahab, give us a missed call, which will act as a signal for us to call you back and then you can tell him that our jeep was attacked and you lost the doctor and one of your men in the attack."
Dad looked at him and said "I cannot let you kill one of your men just to make our plan look good… This is not right… Killing a demon like this doctor and killing an innocent men are 2 different things…"
"AARATI DI… AARATI DI… CAN YOU PLEASE COME HERE…"
I saw an elderly lady approach towards Banik Uncle.
"Boudi if you don't mind can you please take her" looking towards Aamaya di and continued "to the hut and clean her up."
The lady took Aamaya di away for there and then Banik Uncle asked us to follow him towards the end of the camp. There was a cemented house at the corner. As we entered the house I saw a man bound in chains with Bandages over his hands and parts of his face.
"Christopher Babu… do you recognise this man…"
Dad went closer to the man and looked at him. Pointing his index finger towards that man's face while looking at the rest of us "This is…"
"Yes Babu… you guessed it right… This is Rahat. Shabnam masi did her special thing and then gave him to us… and he is the man who is going to die as our men…"
Dad stood up and went close to Tribeni Dadu and Master kaku and said "the I.G. is a smart man Tribeni Babu... he might understand. But…" and then dad started to rub his forehead using the fingers of his left hand about 5 minutes later he said "Let's do it… If things don't work as planned… we will think of something else…"
We came out of the house and went to the washroom. Apparently for now reason I threw up… it was perhaps the sight of the bloodied body of that doctor that made me throw up.
A few minutes later, I came out of the washroom.
"Are you alright dear…" mom asked.
"Yes mom… I think I am… probably what I saw is upsetting my nerves, so I threw up."
Mom hugged me tight and said that she was sorry that I had to see such a gruesome thing and then gave me a pill to eat. She gave one to Aamaya di too. She told me that it will help me calm my nerves. We took the pills and then mom told us to go and sit in the car. The medicine was really strong. I didn't understand what the people around me was talking and my eyelids were also getting heavy. As I sat on the MD5, all I could understand was that mom was trying her level best to strap the seatbelt around me and Aamaya di. A few minutes later I lost consciousness and don't seem to remember what happened.
TO BE CONTINUED…